by Sharelle B. McNair
July 29, 2025
Adam Coy was instantly fired after the ordeal however his prolonged historical past of citizen complaints got here to gentle.
Former Columbus, Ohio, police officer Adam Coy plans on interesting his obligatory 15-year-to-life sentence as he feels his “actions had been justified” after killing Andre Hill, a Black man who was merely holding his cellphone and keys, Related Press experiences.
In December 2020, Coy shot Hill 4 occasions, claiming he feared for his life after he mistook Hill’s cellphone and keys for a silver revolver.
Coy, who’s affected by Hodgkin lymphoma, informed the jury earlier than being convicted of homicide that he feared for his life and acted accordingly.
“I really feel my actions had been justified,” Coy stated. “I reacted the identical manner I had in a whole lot of coaching situations. I drew and fired my weapon to cease a risk, defend myself and my accomplice.”
Police physique digicam footage confirmed Hill popping out of the storage of a pal’s home with a cellphone in his left hand simply seconds earlier than being fatally shot by Coy. Roughly 10 minutes handed earlier than officers on the scene supplied medical help. Prosecutors efficiently argued that the sufferer obeyed police instructions and was by no means a risk to Coy.
Throughout a time when circumstances of police brutality akin to George Floyd and Breonna Taylor took over the nation, Hill’s dying precipitated an uproar within the Columbus neighborhood. Coy turned the primary Columbus police officer to obtain a conviction in an on-duty dying, in keeping with The Columbus Dispatch.
Earlier than Franklin County Widespread Pleas Courtroom Decide Stephen McIntosh handed down the obligatory sentence through the July 28 listening to, Hill’s solely youngster, Karissa Hill, spoke on the hardship she was handled having to clarify to her youngsters that their grandfather, who they known as “Large Daddy,” was killed.
Her three youngsters, she stated, had seen the physique digicam footage.
“To elucidate to them {that a} police officer took their Large Daddy away, it’s the toughest factor to do,” Karissa Hill stated. “These are the folks they inform us to depend on. If stuff occurs, you’re presupposed to name the police. Somebody thought they had been doing the best factor and known as the police, and now my dad’s not right here.”
Andre Hill’s sister, Shawna Barnett, remembered her brother as being “a supply of pleasure, laughter and power” and stated the sentencing is extra about justice for her brother, however holding somebody accountable.
“His life was taken in probably the most brutal and unjust manner. With out trigger, with out mercy,” Barnett stated. “He died alone, unarmed and undeserving of what occurred to him. Our lives are cut up into earlier than and after, and we’re left with ache that doesn’t fade.”
After the town settled with Hill’s household for $10 million, the most important in metropolis historical past, Columbus lawmakers handed a legislation requiring police to provide rapid medical consideration to injured suspects.
Coy was fired after the taking pictures, however his prolonged historical past of citizen complaints got here to gentle, ensuing within the mayor forcing the police chief out of the place following a sample of deadly police shootings of Black folks.
RELATED CONTENT: HEROES IRL: Black Couple Detains Suspected Arsonist In Runyon Canyon, 6 Months After California Wildfire Aftermath
